Compact substrate transport system

ABSTRACT

A substrate processing system including a load port module configured to hold at least one substrate container for storing and transporting substrates, a substrate processing chamber, an isolatable transfer chamber capable of holding an isolated atmosphere therein configured to couple the substrate processing chamber and the load port module, and a substrate transport mounted at least partially within the transfer chamber having a drive section fixed to the transfer chamber and having a SCARA arm configured to support at least one substrate, the SCARA arm being configured to transport the at least one substrate between the at least one substrate container and the processing chamber with but one touch of the at least one substrate, wherein the SCARA arm comprises a first arm link, a second arm link, and at least one end effector serially pivotally coupled to each other, where the first and second arm links have unequal lengths.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/938,913, filed on May 18, 2007, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The exemplary embodiments generally relate to substrate transfer systemsand, more particularly, to a robot transfer arm of a substrate transportapparatus.

2. Brief Description of Related Developments

The processing of semiconductors often involves multiple process stepsthat are performed by single step tools. Such processing steps includethe photo etching of the film deposited on a substrate, dry stripping,bevel edge processing, as well as heating, cooling and cleaning.

Each of the process operations is generally performed under vacuum in aspecialized process chamber. Because of the need for extreme cleanlinessand the delicate nature of each process, batch processing ofsemiconductor substrates has generally been replaced by individualsubstrate processing. This allows more control of the processing of eachsubstrate, but limits the overall throughput of the system, because, foreach process step, the process chamber must be vented, the substrateloaded, the chamber sealed and pumped to vacuum. After processing, thesteps are reversed.

To improve the process volume, in a conventional manner a cluster ofprocessing chambers are arranged around a conventional substratetransport chamber which is constructed to be kept under vacuum. One ormore load lock chambers are connected through slit valves to thetransport chamber, the transport chamber is connected to a front endmodule and generally multiple load port modules are coupled to the frontend unit.

The load locks accommodate cassettes of substrates to be processed. Thecassettes are delivered to the load lock by the front end deliverytransport located in the front end module of the system. A load lockconstructed to accommodate such cassettes is shown in U.S. Pat. No.5,664,925 owned in common with the subject application. The disclosureof the '925 patent is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

In this manner cycling times are reduced, while significantly increasingsystem throughput. The process and transport chambers are maintainedcontinuously under vacuum, while only the load lock is cycled. The loadlock receives the substrates to be processed after being sealed from thetransport chamber and vented to atmosphere. The front end port is thensealed and the load lock is pumped to a vacuum consistent with thetransport and processing chambers.

A robotic transfer mechanism is mounted within the transport chamber andoperates to remove substrates from the load lock and deliver them to theselected process chambers. After processing, the substrates are pickedup by the robot and transported to the next process chamber or to a loadlock for removal from the transport chamber. In some instances, fortiming purposes, these systems may employ buffer stations which areadapted to store substrates either before loading or at other timesduring the transport of the substrate through the system.

A system of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,413 and anexample of a robotic transfer mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No.5,647,724, each of which is assigned to an owner common to thisapplication. The disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

It has been found that substrates up to 200 mm in diameter can beeffectively processed with the conventional cluster type systems. As canbe realized, the size of conventional cluster tools is largely dependenton the size of the conventional transport chamber, with communication toeach of the processing modules of the cluster tool. Further, there is atrend towards increasing diameters and the cluster systems become undulylarge when processing substrates of 300 mm, 450 mm or more in diameter.Processing systems having transports with two arm links may be used toreduce the containment to extension ratio of the transports. However, asthe diameter or size of the substrates increases, the length of each ofthe two arm links of the transport also increases, thereby increasingthe volume to accommodate the arm motion in the transport chamber.

As process device geometries shrink, film thickness reduces, suggestingshorter deposition and removal processing times. The pumping down oflarger volume load locks may conflict with the shorter deposition andremoval times as the pumping down of the load lock may take longer thanthe processing times.

It would be advantageous to have a compact substrate transport systemallowing for decreased load lock pump down time. It would also beadvantageous to have a substrate transport system that allows multipleprocessing modules to be arranged in close proximity to each othermaximizing production facility floor space. It would further beadvantageous to have a substrate transport system that can directlycouple a load port with a processing module without the use of anequipment front end module.

SUMMARY

In one exemplary embodiment, a substrate processing system is provided.The substrate processing system includes a load port module configuredto hold at least one substrate container for storing and transportingsubstrates, a substrate processing chamber, an isolatable transferchamber capable of holding an isolated atmosphere therein configured tocouple the substrate processing chamber and the load port module, and asubstrate transport mounted at least partially within the transferchamber having a drive section fixed to the transfer chamber and havinga SCARA arm configured to support at least one substrate, the SCARA armbeing configured to transport the at least one substrate between the atleast one substrate container and the processing chamber with but onetouch of the at least one substrate, wherein the SCARA arm comprises afirst arm link, a second arm link, and at least one end effectorserially pivotally coupled to each other, where the first and second armlinks have unequal lengths.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, a substrate processingsystem is provided. The substrate processing system includes anequipment front end module having at least one transport path fortransferring substrates from the equipment front end module, at leastone substrate transfer module coupled directly to the equipment frontend module, and at least one substrate processing module coupled to eachof the at least one substrate transfer module, wherein the substrateprocessing system comprises a cluster tool and the equipment front endmodule, the at least one substrate transfer module and the at least onesubstrate processing module form independent parallel transport pathsthat are isolated from each other.

In accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment, a substratetransport system is provided. The substrate transport system includes afront end unit configured to transfer substrates from a substratecontainer, a transfer module joined to the front end unit, a substrateprocessing chamber coupled to the transfer module, where the transfermodule and processing chamber have a substantially inline arrangementalong a transport path of the front end unit for transferring substratesfrom the front end unit, and a substrate transport mounted at leastpartially within the transfer module and configured to transportsubstrates between the processing chamber and the transfer module, thesubstrate transport comprising a drive section substantially fixed tothe transfer module, two arm links and at least one end effectorpivotally joined to each other, a first one of the arm links beingpivotally joined to a housing of the transfer module at a first end, thefirst arm link having a first length, a first end of a second one of thearm links being pivotally joined to a second end of the first arm link,the second arm link having a second length where a rotation of thesecond arm link is slaved to a rotation of the first arm link, and theat least one end effector being pivotally joined to a second end of thesecond arm link and being configured to hold at least one substrate, theat least one end effector being rotatably driven separately from thefirst and second links.

In accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment a substrateprocessing apparatus is provided. The substrate processing apparatusincludes a front end module configured to hold at least one substratecontainer for storing and transporting substrates, at least onesubstrate processing chamber, at least one isolatable transfer chambercapable of holding an isolated atmosphere therein configured to couple arespective one of the at least one substrate processing chamber and thefront end module, and a substrate transport mounted at least partiallywithin each of the at least one transfer chambers having a drive sectionsubstantially fixed to a respective transfer chamber and having anunequal length SCARA arm configured to support at least one substrate,the SCARA arm being configured to transport the at least one substratebetween the front end module and the processing chamber, wherein thefront end module, at least one substrate processing chamber and at leastone isolatable transfer chamber are arranged for transporting substratesbetween the front end module and each of the at least one substrateprocessing chamber along independent and isolatable paths.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, a method is provided.The method includes picking at least one substrate from a substratecontainer coupled to a load port of a substrate processing system with asubstrate transport arm located within the substrate processing systemand transferring the at least one substrate with the substrate transportarm directly from the substrate container to a processing module of thesubstrate processing system, where the at least one substrate is handledbut one time by the substrate transport arm during the transfer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the disclosed embodimentsare explained in the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an exemplary substrate processing system inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 1C illustrates a portion of the exemplary substrate processingsystem of FIGS. 1A and 1B;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate another exemplary substrate processing systemin accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 3A-3D, 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B illustrate a portions of exemplarysubstrate processing systems in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate exemplary transfer chambers in accordance withexemplary embodiments;

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate sectional views of the exemplary transferchambers of FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIGS. 9A-D illustrate an exemplary transfer chamber module in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 10A-D illustrate an exemplary transfer chamber module inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate an exemplary transfer chamber module inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate the exemplary transfer chamber module ofFIGS. 11A and 11B with a substrate transport in different positions;

FIG. 13A illustrates a schematic view of a substrate processing systemin accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 13B illustrates an exemplary drive in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment;

FIGS. 14A-14C illustrate schematic views of a substrate transport inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 15A and 15B show another schematic view of a portion of asubstrate transport in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 16A-B and 17A-B illustrate a transport path of a substratetransport in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary substrate transport configuration inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 19A-D, 20, 21, 22 and 23 are schematic illustrations of exemplarysubstrate processing systems in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIGS. 24A-B illustrate flow diagrams in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 24C illustrates an exemplary control diagram in accordance with anexemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 25A-F illustrate another exemplary substrate processing system inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 26 illustrates another exemplary substrate processing system inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment; and

FIGS. 27A-C illustrates yet another exemplary substrate processingsystem in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT(s)

FIGS. 1A-C illustrate an exemplary substrate processing system inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment. Although the embodimentsdisclosed will be described with reference to the embodiments shown inthe drawings, it should be understood that the embodiments disclosed canbe embodied in many alternate forms. In addition, any suitable size,shape or type of elements or materials could be used.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1A-C the processing system, which may also bereferred to as a cluster tool may include an equipment front end module(EFEM) 150, load port(s) 151 coupled to a first side of the EFEM 150, aload lock(s) 110 coupled a second side of the EFEM, a transferchamber(s) 100 coupled to the load lock 110 and a processing module(s)120 coupled to the transfer chamber(s) 100. The arrangements illustratedin FIGS. 1A-1C are merely exemplary, and in alternate embodiments, thetool may have any other desired arrangement. The load lock 110 andtransfer chamber 100 may collectively be referred to as transfer module101. It is noted that in alternate embodiments the load lock 110 may bereplaced with a substrate buffer. It is also noted that the buffer maybe any suitable buffer and may include a substrate cooling feature orany other suitable features, such as a metrology system, to aid in theprocessing of substrates. Adapters 130, which may include slit valves,couple the processing module 120, transfer chamber 100 and load lock 110together as shown in the Figures. In alternate embodiments theprocessing module 120, transfer chamber 100 and load lock 110 may becoupled in any suitable manner. In this example the processing module120 and the transfer chamber 100 may form a sealed enclosure that can bepumped down to a vacuum for substrate processing and maintained undervacuum by for example vacuum pump 140. The load lock may transitionbetween a vacuum and some pressure other than vacuum. The vacuum pump140 may also be utilized to pump down the load lock 110. As can be seenin the Figures, the load lock 110 may also include a valve 160 forisolating the load lock interior from the atmosphere of the EFEM 150 toallow for the pumping down of the load lock 110. In alternateembodiments, the processing system may have the transport chamber/loadlock(s), such as in a vacuum system, connected to a load port without anintervening EFEM.

A first substrate transport robot may be housed at least partly withinEFEM 150 for transporting substrates from, for example, a substratecassette docked on the load port 151 to the load lock 110 (or buffer)through the valve 160. The first robot may be fixed or mounted on atrack depending on the number of load port modules 151 and/or load locks110 that it serves. An exemplary transport of this type is described incommonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,840, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The first robot mayinclude a Z-axis drive and/or the load port may include a cassetteelevator/indexer. A second transport robot may be housed at least partlywithin the transfer chamber 100 for transporting substrate between theload lock 110 and the processing module 120 through the valves 130. Thetransfer chamber 100 may be compact, such as for example having a widthsubstantially equal to or less than load port(s) communicating with thetransfer chamber or the process modules width. The second robot may beany suitable transport robot, an example of which will be described ingreater detail below. Substrates may be transported by the firsttransport robot into the load lock 110 under ambient conditions. Theload lock 110 may be closed, pumped to vacuum and opened to transferchamber 100 through operation of the slit valve 130. In this manner thesubstrates may be supplied to the processing chamber 120 in a much morecompact system as will be described in greater detail below. Otherexamples of compact transport systems can be found in commonly ownedU.S. Pat. No. 6,918,731 and commonly assigned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/104,397, entitled “FAST SWAP DUAL SUBSTRATE TRANSPORT FORLOAD LOCK” filed on Apr. 12, 2005, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

As can be seen best in FIG. 1B, multiple processing modules 120 may bealigned sequentially along a side of the EFEM. In this example, thesubstrate transfer system may be configured such that the processingmodules may be arranged at a distance D of, for example, no more than505 mm (See FIG. 20) which at present is a SEMI specified distancebetween operation paths of existing front end delivery systems such asEFEM 150 with respect to a 300 mm diameter substrate). In otherexemplary embodiments the distance between operational paths of the EFEMmay be more or less than 505 mm such as with systems configured toprocess, for example, 200 mm or 450 mm diameter substrates. In alternateembodiments the processing modules and their corresponding transportsystems (e.g. transport systems 101 and 200 (FIGS. 1A and 2A-B)) may belocated at any suitable distance such as a distance that is greater orless than 505 mm. Accordingly, a cluster tool in the exemplaryembodiment may be configured so that the tool width may be definedsubstantially by the width of the EFEM or the process modules.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show another exemplary substrate transport system inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment. The transport system of FIGS.2A and 2B may be substantially similar to the transport system describedabove with respect to FIGS. 1A-C with like reference numerals assignedto like features. However, in this example, the transport chamber andload lock are integrated into a single module 200 which will bedescribed in greater detail below. As can be seen in FIG. 2B the module200 may allow for processing modules 120 to be aligned sequentially in amanner substantially similar to that described above with respect toFIG. 1B.

FIGS. 3A-C illustrate the load lock 110, transfer chamber 100 andprocessing module 120 in greater detail. i In FIG. 3A the load lock 110is shown as having a lid 111 (that provides access to the interior ofthe load lock 110) only for example, and in alternate embodiments thetransport chamber/load lock may not have a lid. Suitable seals may beprovided around the lid 111 to prevent leakage when the lid is closed.In alternate embodiments the interior of the load lock may be accessiblein any suitable manner. The transport chamber 100 may also have a lid101 that is substantially similar to the lid 111. The transport systemmay also include a controller 310 that is connected to the processingmodule 120, transfer chamber 100 and/or load lock 110. The controller310 may include any suitable programs or algorithms for controlling theoperation of at least the processing module 120, transfer chamber 100,load lock 110, corresponding valves and vacuum pumps (and/or any othersuitable features of the substrate processing system of which processingmodule 120, transfer chamber 100, load lock 110 form a part of). Thecontroller 310 may be connected to and receive instructions from acentral control module (not shown) that may be part of a clusteredarchitecture. A suitable example of a control system having a clusteredarchitecture can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/178,615filed on Jul. 11, 2005, the disclosure of which is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety. The controller 310 may be connected tothe central controller through connections 300. The connections 300 mayinclude electrical connections, vacuum line connections, gas lineconnections or any other suitable connections for the operation of thetransport system. In alternate embodiments the controller 310 may bepart of the central control module. The central control module maycontrol the operation of the entire processing system, such as forexample, the processing systems shown in FIGS. 1A-C and 2A-B. It shouldbe realized that the transport module 200 may also include a controllersubstantially similar to controller 310 and electrical, vacuum, gasand/or air connections such as for example connections 300.

Referring now to FIGS. 4A-B and 5A-B, the load lock 110 described aboveprovides a substantially linear path (e.g. the valves 460 and 130 areabout one-hundred and eighty degrees apart) such that the transfersystem is arranged in a substantially straight line. In other exemplaryembodiments, the load locks 110′, 110″ may be configured such that theslit valves 460, 130 are ninety degrees apart. As can be seen in FIGS.4A-B and 5A-B, the slit valve 460 can be located on either side of theload lock 110′, 110″. In alternate embodiments the slit valves in thetransport chamber that allow the passage of substrates between, forexample, the processing module and EFEM may have any suitablerelationship with each other such as for example any suitable anglebetween zero and one-hundred-eighty degrees. The processing tool maythus be configured in any desired arrangement (e.g. load lock/transferchamber and process module along side the EFEM).

Referring now to FIG. 6, the transport chamber 100 of FIG. 1A is shownin greater detail. In this example the lid 101 on the transport chamber100 is removed for clarity. As can be seen in FIG. 6, the transportchamber 100 may have any suitably shaped housing 100H. In this examplethe housing is rectangular but in alternate embodiments the housing mayhave any other suitable shape. The housing 100H may be configured tocouple with adapters 130 in any suitable manner and to provide asuitable seal between the adapters 130 and the housing 100H to preventleakage of the atmosphere within the transport chamber 100. Thetransport chamber 100 includes any suitable transfer device or robot 600for transporting substrates S through the transfer chamber 100. Anexemplary transfer robot 600 will be described in greater detail below.The interior walls (e.g. top, bottom and sides) of the transfer chamber100 may be contoured to follow a path of the substrate as it moveswithin the chamber 100 to reduce the internal volume of the chamber 100as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,731, previously incorporated byreference. For example, the internal cavity 100C of the transfer chamber100 may be designed to allow only enough space to permit the freeoperation of the transport 600. By providing only sufficient operatingclearance between the top, bottom and walls of the cavity 100C, thevolume of the transfer chamber 100 may be minimized. This enables thecycling time of pumping the transfer chamber 100 to vacuum to beminimized in order to provide a cycle time consistent with the substrateprocessing time, when for example the transfer chamber 100 is directlycoupled to a load port module and processing module as will be describedbelow.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a cross sectional view of the load lock 110 ofFIG. 1A is shown in greater detail. The interior walls (e.g. top, bottomand sides) of the load lock 110 may also be contoured to follow a pathof the substrate as it moves within the load lock 110 to reduce theinternal volume of the load lock 110 such that the cycle time for vacuumpump down or venting is reduced or minimized. In this exemplaryembodiment and for exemplary purposes only, the volume V1 of the loadlock 110 may be about seven liters with a gas flow rate through the loadlock 110 of about sixty standard liters per minute (slpm). In alternateembodiments the load lock may have a volume greater or less than sevenliters and have any suitable gas flow rate. The gas within the load lock110 may be any suitable gas including, but not limited to, inert gases,controlled air and atmospheric air. The reduced volume and increasedflow rate may allow for faster pump/vent cycles and higher substratethroughput. The load lock 110 may be configured to minimize particlecontamination due to adiabatic expansion of the gas.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the transfer chamber portion 200TC of thetransport unit 200 is shown in greater detail. It is noted that the lidof the transfer chamber 200TC is removed for clarity. As can be seen inFIG. 7, the transfer chamber is enclosed in housing 200H, which in thisexample is rectangular in shape. In alternate embodiments the housing200H may have any suitable shape. The interior walls of the transportchamber 200TC are shown in this example as substantially following theoutside contour of the housing 200H but in alternate embodiments, theinterior walls (top, bottom and sides) may be contoured to follow a pathof the substrate as it moves within the chamber 100 to reduce theinternal volume of the chamber 100 for vacuum pump down purposes in amanner similar to that described above with respect to FIG. 6. In thisexemplary embodiment, the transport chamber 200TC includes openings 700Sfor suitably coupling slit valves 700 to the housing 200H. The slitvalves may serve to isolate the transfer chamber 200TC from theprocessing module and/or the load lock or buffer portion of the transfermodule 200 as will be described below. As may be realized the slitvalves 700 may be easily serviced by, for example dropping the valve outof or otherwise decoupling the valve from the opening 700S withouthaving to disassemble or disconnect the transfer chamber 200TC from theother components of the transport system. It should be realized that inother exemplary embodiments, the valve 700 may be inserted through thetop of the opening 700S (e.g. inserted through the housing 200H fromwithin the transfer chamber 200TC) rather than from the bottom of theopening 700S. In alternate embodiments, the transfer chamber 200TC maybe configured to allow the insertion/removal of the valve 700 throughany suitable side of the transfer chamber housing 200H. The transportchamber 200TC may also include a compact connector 230 for coupling aprocessing module to the transfer chamber 200TC. The connector 230 maybe any suitably configured connector having suitable seals to preventleakage of the internal atmosphere of the process module and/or thetransfer chamber 200TC. It is noted that in this exemplary embodiment,the slit valves 700 are located along an interior wall of the transferchamber 200TC, but in alternate embodiments the slit valves 700 may belocated in, for example, connectors such as connector 230 in a mannersubstantially similar to that described above. For example the connectormay have an opening substantially similar to opening 700S through whichthe slit valve can be installed or removed. As can be seen in FIG. 7,the transfer chamber 200TC also includes a suitable transfer device orrobot 600 for transporting substrates S through the transfer chamber 100as will be described below.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a cross sectional view of the load lock portion200LL of the transfer module 200 of FIG. 2A is shown in greater detail.The interior walls (e.g. top, bottom and sides) of the load lock 200LLmay also be contoured to follow a path of the substrate as it moveswithin the load lock portion 200LL to reduce the internal volume of theload lock portion 200LL so that the cycle time for vacuum pump down orventing is reduced or minimized. In this exemplary embodiment and forexemplary purposes only, the volume V2 of the load lock portion 200LLmay be about three liters with a gas flow rate through the load lockportion 200LL of about ninety standard liters per minute (slpm). Inalternate embodiments the load lock may have a volume greater or lessthan three liters and have any suitable gas flow rate. The gas withinthe load lock portion 200LL may be any suitable gas including, but notlimited to, inert gases, controlled air and atmospheric air. The reducedvolume and increased flow rate may allow for faster pump/vent cycles andhigher substrate throughput. The load lock portion 200LL may also beconfigured to minimize particle contamination due to adiabatic expansionof the gas in the load lock portion 200LL.

Referring now to FIGS. 9A-9D another exemplary embodiment of a transfermodule 900 is shown. In this exemplary embodiment the transfer module900 includes a buffer portion 900B and a transfer chamber portion 900TCformed in, for example, one housing 900H. In this example the housing900H may be of unitary or one piece construction. In alternateembodiments the housing 900H may be an assembly. The buffer portion 900Band a transfer chamber portion 900TC may be separated by a wall 970. Thewall 970 may include an opening or slit 970S to allow the passage ofsubstrates between the buffer portion 900B and the transfer chamber900TC. It is noted that the combination of the buffer portion 900B andthe transfer chamber portion 900TC may act as a load lock between theEFEM and the processing module. In this example, the buffer portion 900Band transfer chamber 900TC may not be isolatable from each other, but inother exemplary embodiments a slit valve may be removably locatedbetween the buffer portion 900B and the transfer chamber portion 900TCfor isolating the portions from each other and for converting the bufferportion 900B into, for example, a load lock as will be described below.The buffer portion 900B may include a substrate buffer 920 for bufferingat least one substrate. The buffer 920 may also have alignmentcapabilities for aligning, for example, a fiducial of the substrate forprocessing purposes. In other embodiments the buffer may provide coolingfor hot substrates or any other process for aiding in the processing ofthe substrate. In still other embodiments the buffer may be configuredto perform any suitable processing operations on a substrate(s).

The transfer chamber 900TC may include a transfer robot 930 fortransporting substrate S through slit 970S from the buffer 920 andthrough valve 940V to a processing module and vice versa. The valve 940Vmay be part of a connector 940 for coupling the transfer module 900 to aprocessing module. In other exemplary embodiments the valve 940V may beinserted or coupled to the connector 940 through an opening in a mannersubstantially similar to that described above with respect to FIG. 7. Inother exemplary embodiments the valve 940V may be inserted through anopening in, for example, the bottom of the transfer chamber 900TCagainst, for example, an interior wall of the transfer chamber 900TC asdescribed above. In alternate embodiments the valve 940V may be locatedin any suitable portion of the transfer chamber 900TC and/or connector940. Another valve 960 may be located on the other opposite side of thetransfer module 900 allowing the connection of the buffer portion 900Bto, for example an EFEM or any other suitable piece of processingequipment. In this exemplary embodiment the valve 960 is shown as anatmospheric valve but in other embodiments the valve 960 may be anysuitable valve such as for example, a slit valve. The transfer module900 may also have connections 950, 951 for connecting, for examplevacuum and gas lines to the transfer chamber 900TC and/or buffer 900B.

Referring now to FIGS. 10A-10D another exemplary configuration of thetransfer module 900 is shown. In this configuration, the transfer modulehousing 900H may have an opening 1000S through, for example, the bottomof the housing for suitably coupling a slit valve 1000 to the housing900H via the opening 1000S as described above with respect to FIG. 7.The slit valve 1000 may serve to isolate the buffer from the transferchamber 900TC converting the buffer into the load lock 900LL. As notedabove, the opening 1000S and the valves 1000 may be configured to beinserted through the housing 900H either from the bottom of the housingor from within the transfer chamber. In alternate embodiments similarvalves and openings may also be located within the load lock 900LLportions of the transfer module 900.

FIGS. 11A-12B illustrate the transfer module 900 with the transfer robot930 extended in various positions. For example, FIGS. 11A and 11B showthe transfer robot 930 extended through the valve 940V while FIGS. 12Aand 12B show the transfer robot 930 extending into the load lock 900LL(or buffer portion) of the transfer module 900. The motion of thetransfer robot 930 will be described in greater detail below.

Referring now to FIGS. 13A-B, 14A-C and 15A-B an exemplary substratetransport 1400 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment will now bedescribed. The exemplary compact, fast swap, bi-directional transportdescribed below may include a two-axis drive having unequal length armsand two differentially coupled end effectors arranged in what may bereferred to as a general SCARA arm arrangement. In alternate embodimentsthe transport 1400 may have any suitable configuration with more or lessthan two end effectors and/or more or less than two drive axes. As canbe seen in FIG. 13A the transport 1400 is shown as being located in, forexample, the transport chamber 100 of the processing system. Inalternate embodiments the transport 1400 may be located in any suitableportion of the processing system.

The transport 1400 may have a two-axis coaxial drive system 1301, as canbe seen best in FIG. 13B, substantially similar to that described in,for example, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/179,762, entitled “UNEQUAL LENGTH SCARA ARM”, filed on Jul. 11, 2005,the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. For example, the drive 1301 may include an outer housing 1301Hthat houses a coaxial shaft assembly 1360 and two motors 1362 and 1366.In alternate embodiments the drive 1301 may have more or less than twomotors. The drive shaft assembly 1360 has two drive shafts 1368A and1368C. In alternate embodiments more or less than two drive shafts maybe provided. The first motor 1362 comprises a stator 1378A and a rotor1380A connected to the inner shaft 1368A. The second motor 1366comprises a stator 1378C and a rotor 1380C connected to the outer shaft1368C. The two stators 1378A, 1378C are stationarily attached to thehousing 1301H at different vertical heights or locations along thehousing. In this embodiment, for illustrative purposes only, the firststator 1378A is the bottom stator, the second stator 1378C is the topstator. Each stator generally comprises an electromagnetic coil. The twoshafts 1368A and 1368C are arranged as coaxial shafts. The two rotors1380A, 1380C are preferably comprised of permanent magnets, but mayalternatively comprise a magnetic induction rotor, which does not havepermanent magnets. Sleeves 1363 may be located between the rotor 1380and the stators 1378 to allow the transporter 1400 to be useable in avacuum environment where the drive shaft assembly 1360 is located in avacuum environment and the stators 1378 are located outside of thevacuum environment. However, the sleeves 1363 need not be provided ifthe transporter 1400 is only intended for use in an atmosphericenvironment. In other exemplary embodiments the robot may be configuredto isolate the interior of the arm, the rotors and the stators from thevacuum environment. In alternate embodiments there may be suitable sealsfor isolating the rotors and the stators from the vacuum environment sothat the volume of the load lock is not increased by the drive of thetransfer robot.

The first shaft 1368A is the inner shaft and extends from the bottomstator 1378A. The inner shaft has the first rotor 1380A aligned with thebottom stator 1378A. The outer shaft 1368C extends upward from the topstator 1378C. The outer shaft has the second rotor 1380C aligned withthe upper stator 1378C. Various bearings are provided about the shafts1368 and the housing 1301H to allow each shaft to be independentlyrotatable relative to each other and the housing 1301H. In alternateembodiments the motors 1362, 1366 may be configured as self bearingmotors such that the rotors 1380A, 1380C are supported within thehousing substantially without contact such as by forces exerted on therotors 1380A, 1380C by their respective stators 1378A, 1378C. In otheralternate embodiments the motors may be incorporated into walls of thetransport chamber 100 as described in, for example, United States PatentApplication entitled “Substrate Processing Apparatus with MotorsIntegral to Chamber Walls”, U.S. Ser. No. 60/950,331, filed Jul. 17,2007 and United States Patent Application entitled “Substrate TransportApparatus”, U.S. Ser. No. 12/117,355, filed May 8, 2008, the disclosuresof which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. Eachshaft 1368A, 1368C may be provided with a suitable position sensor tosignal the controller 310 (see FIG. 3D) of the rotational position ofthe shafts 1368 relative to each other and/or relative to the housing1301H. Any suitable sensor could be used including, but not limited to,optical and induction sensors.

The outer shaft 1368C is fixedly connected to the upper arm 1401 so thatshaft 1368C and upper arm 1401 rotate together as a unit about axis Z.The second shaft 1368C may be coupled to the end effector pulley 1437for driving the end effectors 1403, 1404 as will be described below.

In alternate embodiments the drives for each drive axis (i.e. upper armand end effectors) may be located at a respective joint on the arm. Forexample the drive for rotating the upper arm may be located at theshoulder joint 1310 and the drive for rotating the end effector(s) maybe located at the wrist joint 1312. In alternate embodiments thetransport may have any suitable drive system (coaxial or non-coaxial)which may have more or less than two drive axes. In other exemplaryembodiments the drive system may include a Z-axis drive for verticalmovement of the arm assembly.

As can best be seen in FIGS. 14A-C, the transport 1400 includes a base1405, an upper arm 1401, a forearm 1402 and two end effectors 1403,1404. In this exemplary embodiment, the upper arm 1401 and the forearm1402 may have unequal lengths as described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/179,762, previously incorporated by reference. For example,the forearm 1402 may be longer than the upper arm 1401 such that thetransport containment to extension ratio is maximized. The unequallengths of the upper arm 1401 and the forearm 1402 may allow the swingdiameter of the arm assembly, while in a retracted position, to remainthe same as the swing diameter of a conventional arm assembly having anequal length upper arm and forearm. However, the unequal lengths of theupper arm 1401 and forearm 1402 may allow, for example, greater reach orextension than an arm having equal length links with the same swingdiameter, thus increasing the reach to containment ratio of the arm1400. The upper arm 1401 may be rotatably coupled to the base 1405 at ashoulder joint 1410. The forearm 1402 may be rotatably coupled to theupper arm 1401 at an elbow joint 1411. The end effectors 1403, 1404 maybe rotatably coupled to the forearm 1402 at a wrist joint 1412. Whilethe exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 14A-C are shown having two endeffectors, it should be realized that the arm may have more or less thantwo end effectors.

The upper arm may be rotatably driven at the shoulder joint 1410 by afirst drive shaft 1436 (which may be substantially similar to shaft1368C of the drive system 1301). A second drive shaft 1435 (which may besubstantially similar to shaft 1368A of the drive system 1301) may becoupled to and rotatably drive a first end effector pulley 1437. Ashoulder pulley 1430 may also be freely mounted on the second shaft 1435and supported by suitable bearings 1431 such that the shoulder pulley1430 does not rotate when the second shaft 1435 and/or the upper arm1401 rotates. For example, the shoulder pulley 1430 may be fixedlyconnected to the base 1405 through connecting member 1431 to prevent therotation of the shoulder pulley 1430 (e.g. the forearm is slaved to theupper arm). In alternate embodiments, where theta motion of thetransport (e.g. rotation of the transport arm as a unit) is desired, theshoulder pulley 1430 may be coupled to another motor of the drivesection to prevent relative movement between the forearm 1402 and upperarm 1401 when the transport is rotated as a unit. The upper arm 1401 maybe suitably configured so that the connecting member 1431 passes throughthe upper arm 1401 to connect with the base 1405. In alternateembodiments the shoulder pulley 1430 may be fixed from rotation in anysuitable manner, including but not limited to a third non-rotatableshaft.

A second end effector pulley 1440 is located at the elbow joint 1411.The second end effector pulley 1440 may be freely rotatable and suitablysupported about elbow shaft 1411′ by, for example, suitable bearings1443. The first and second end effector pulleys may be coupled to eachother by, for example, belt 1439. Although one belt is shown in theFigures it is noted that any suitable number of belts may be used. It isnoted that in alternate embodiments belt 1439 may be replaced with anysuitable coupler including, but not limited to, chains, bands andlinkages. An elbow pulley 1441 may also be freely rotatable about theelbow shaft 1411′ and suitably supported by, for example, bearings 1442.The elbow pulley 1441 may be fixedly coupled to the forearm 1402 suchthat the elbow pulley 1441 drives the rotation of the forearm 1402 aboutthe shoulder joint 1411. The elbow pulley 1441 may be coupled to theshoulder pulley 1430 by, for example, belt 1438 in a mannersubstantially similar to that described above with respect to the endeffector pulleys 1437, 1440. In this exemplary embodiment the diametersof the shoulder and elbow pulleys 1430, 1441 may have a ratio of abouttwo to one such that a predetermined arm trajectory is maintained duringextension and retraction of the transport 1400. In alternate embodimentsthe shoulder and elbow pulleys may have any suitable diametrical ratio.

A third and fourth end effector pulley 1445, 1446 may be located withinthe forearm 1402 at the elbow joint 1411 and drivingly coupled to thesecond end effector pulley 1440. In this example the third and fourthpulleys 1445, 1446 are shown as separate pulleys but in alternateembodiments there may only be one pulley with, for example, two grooves.In other alternate embodiments the pulleys may have any suitableconfiguration. A fifth and sixth end effector pulley 1420, 1421 may belocated at the wrist joint 1412 within the forearm 1402 and rotatablysupported on wrist shaft 1412′ by, for example suitable bearings 1450,1451. The third end effector pulley 1445 may be drivingly coupled to thefifth end effector pulley 1420 by, for example, a belt 1422 in a mannersubstantially similar to that described above. The fourth end effectorpulley 1446 may be drivingly coupled to the sixth end effector pulley1421 by, for example belt 1423 in a manner substantially similar to thatdescribed above. In this example the pulleys may be differentiallycoupled such that the end effectors rotate in opposite directions in ascissor like manner as will be described below. For example the belt1422 may be twisted in a “figure eight” configuration as shown in theFigures such that pulley 1420 rotates in an opposite direction than itsdrive pulley 1445.

The first end effector 1404 may be fixedly coupled to the fifth endeffector pulley 1420 such that when the pulley 1420 rotates the endeffector 1404 rotates with it. The second end effector 1403 may befixedly coupled to the sixth end effector pulley 1421 such that when thepulley 1421 rotates the end effector 1403 rotates with it. In alternateembodiments the transport 1400 may have more or less than two endeffectors. The end effectors may have any suitable configurationincluding, but not limited to, the exemplary configurations of the endeffectors 1403, 1404, 1403′ and 1404′ shown in the Figures.

It is noted that in this exemplary embodiment the pulleys are locatedwithin the upper arm 1401 and forearm 1402. The upper arm 1401 andforearm 1402 may be sealed and or vented by for example a vacuum pump toprevent particulates from the drive system from contaminating thesubstrate S carried by the transport 1400. In alternate embodiments, thepulleys may be located in any suitable location. It is further notedthat the pulley configuration shown in FIGS. 14A-C and 15A-B isexemplary in nature and that the pulleys may have any suitableconfiguration for driving the robot arm and end effectors.

Referring now to FIGS. 16A and 16B the extension of the transport arm1603 into, for example the load lock (or buffer) 1601 will be described.The transport 1600 may be substantially similar to the transportdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 14A-C and 15A-B. In this examplethe arm 1630 is shown in six exemplary positions A-F where position A isreferred to as the neutral or start position of the arm 1630 andposition F is referred to as the extended position of the arm 1630 forexemplary purposes only. It is noted that the terms “start” and“extended” positions are used merely as a convenience in describing themotion of the arm. In position A, the end effectors 1630, 1640 aresubstantially aligned over the upper arm 1610. In order to extend ormove the end effector (either one of the end effectors 1630, 1640) inthe direction of arrow 1605 to the pick or place position (i.e. theposition of the substrate within the load lock/buffer) the upper arm1610 is rotated in the direction of arrow 1605. The transport drive 1301(FIG. 13) moves arms and end effectors as directed by a controlalgorithm. The slaved forearm 1620 is driven via the rotation of theupper arm 1610 and fixed shoulder pulley 1430 in the direction of arrow1606. The end effectors may be driven by the end effector pulleys andshaft 1435 such that end effector 1630 rotates in the direction of arrow1608 and differentially coupled end effector 1640 rotates in thedirection of arrow 1607. As can best be seen in FIG. 16B (in which thetransfer robot is shown with one end effector for clarity purposes), thesubstrate located on the end effector may follow a substantially arcuateor U-shaped path 1670 while inside the transfer chamber 1602 and asubstantially straight or linear path 1680 while outside of the transferchamber 1602 (i.e. within the load lock or buffer 1601). Moreover, inthe exemplary embodiment, the linear paths 1680 on opposite sides of thetransfer chamber may be substantially aligned with each other, though asmay be realized, in alternate embodiments the paths may be angledrelative to each other. As may be realized retraction of the arm 1603occurs in a manner substantially opposite to the extension of the arm1603. As also may be realized, the motion of the three link transportarm is highly efficient having the minimum space envelope or footprint(of the transport with the substrate) for a given extension of thetransport arm 1603. In this manner, the transport reach/extension tocontainment ratio is maximized. It is noted that the dual end effectorsmay be utilized for fast swapping of substrates as one end effector maypick a processed substrate while the other end effector places anunprocessed substrate within the load lock/buffer.

Referring now to FIGS. 17A and 17B the extension of the transport arm1603 into, for example a processing module (not shown but indicated bythe letters “PM” in the FIG. 17B) will be described. In alternateembodiments the arm 1630 may be extended into any suitable location inthe manner described below. The transport 1600 may be substantiallysimilar to the transport described above with respect to FIGS. 14A-C and15A-B. In this example the arm 1630 is shown in seven exemplarypositions G-M where position G is the start position of the arm 1630 andposition M is the extended position of the arm 1630. Again, it is notedthat the terms “start” and “extended” positions are used merely as aconvenience in describing the motion of the arm. In position G, the endeffectors 1630, 1640 are substantially aligned over the upper arm 1610.In order to extend or move the end effector (either one of the endeffectors 1630, 1640) in the direction of arrow 1705 to the pick orplace position (e.g. the position of the substrate within the processingmodule) the upper arm 1610 is rotated in the direction of arrow 1705.The transport drive 1301 (FIG. 13) moves arms and end effectors asdirected by a control algorithm. The slaved forearm 1620 is driven viathe rotation of the upper arm 1610 and fixed shoulder pulley 1430 in thedirection of arrow 1706. The end effectors 1630, 1640 may be driven bythe end effector pulleys and shaft 1435 such that end effector 1630rotates in the direction of arrow 1708 and differentially coupled endeffector 1640 rotates in the direction of arrow 1707. As can best beseen in FIG. 17B, the substrate located on the end effector follows asubstantially arcuate or U-shaped path 1770 while inside the transferchamber 1602 and a substantially straight or linear path 1780 whileoutside of the transfer chamber 1602 (e.g. within the processing modulePM). As may be realized retraction of the arm 1630 from, for example,the processing module PM occurs in a manner substantially opposite tothe extension of the arm 1603. Again, the motion of the three linktransport arm is highly efficient having the minimum space envelope orfootprint (of the transport with the substrate) for a given extension ofthe transport arm. In this manner, the transport reach/extension tocontainment ratio is maximized.

It is noted that the dual end effectors 1630, 1640 may be utilized forfast swapping of substrates as one end effector may pick a processedsubstrate while the other end effector places an unprocessed substratewithin the processing module PM. For example, still referring to FIG.17A the fast swap of substrates to, for example a processing module (notshown but indicated as PM) will be described. In this example, both endeffectors 1630, 1640 may start off in position G having a substratethereon where each substrate is substantially aligned with the foldedrobot arms 1610, 1620. A first substrate may be placed by end effector1630 in the processing module PM as described above and shown inposition M of FIG. 17A. After processing of the substrate end effector1630 may be extended back into the processing module to pick thesubstrate. The end effector is retracted from the processing module in amanner substantially opposite to the extension of the transport untilthe processed substrate is at least partly within the transfer chamber1602. Once the processed substrate is at least partially within thetransfer chamber 1602 such that there is sufficient clearance betweenthe processed substrate and the transfer chamber wall and/or slit valvethe end effector drive rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise suchthat the end effectors 1630, 1640 swap positions. In this example endeffector 1630 is closest to the processing module during the extensionof the transport but after the end effectors swap positions the endeffector 1640 becomes the closest to the processing module. It is notedthat to effectuate the fast swapping of the substrates the transport arm1603 may not have to be fully retracted to position G shown in FIG. 17A.For exemplary purposes only, sufficient clearance may exist between thesubstrate and the transfer chamber walls and/or slit valve when the arm1603 is in position H (or any other suitable position along thetransport path). After the swapping of positions of the end effectors1630, 1640 the arm 1603 is extended in the manner described above andthe unprocessed substrate is placed in the processing module by endeffector 1640. It is noted that during the extension of the arm 1603 thesubstrates (on both end effectors 1630, 1640) are substantiallypositioned and travel along a center line of the processing moduleand/or the EFEM operational path) when one of the substrates is locatedoutside of the transfer chamber 1602. As may be realized, the fastswapping of substrates to and from the buffer or load lock area of thetransfer module may be performed in substantially the same manner asdescribed above.

As can be seen in FIG. 18 in one exemplary configuration the arm 1800may be configured such that the end effector 1803 fits within aclearance envelope 1830 in for example the processing module that may bedefined by the substrate supports 1810 of the load lock/buffer as can beseen in the Figure. In this exemplary embodiment the processing modulePM may have substrate supports 1820 that are located aboutone-hundred-and-twenty degrees apart from each other. In alternateembodiments the substrate supports may have any suitable spatialrelationship with each other. The end effector may have the exemplaryconfiguration shown in FIG. 18 such that as the upper arm 1801, theforearm 1802 and the end effector 1803 are extended into the processingmodule the end effector 1803 fits between the substrate supports 1820.Likewise, the end effector 1803 may also be configured to fit betweenthe substrate supports 1810 of the load lock/buffer LL as the arm isextended into the load lock/buffer. In alternate embodiments the endeffector may have any suitable configuration. The bi-directionalmovement of the transfer arm 1800 can also be seen in FIG. 18. Forexample, the arm 1800 can extend into both the processing module PM onone side of the upper arm axis of rotation 1860 and into the loadlock/buffer LL on the other side of the axis of rotation 1860 along path1850 without rotating the transfer arm 1800 as a unit about axis 1860(i.e. the arm is capable of extension in two in-line opposite directionswithout rotation). In alternate embodiments the arm 1800 can beconfigured with an additional motor for rotating the arm as a unit toallow for extension in other directions other than along path 1850.

Referring now to FIGS. 19A-D and 20-23, the automated vacuum wafertransport system described herein may be utilized as a building block toconfigure cluster tools with any suitable number of processing modulesas shown for example. In the exemplary embodiment, the width of thecluster tool may be independent of the width of the transport chamberand may depend for example but on the width of the EFEM or processingmodules. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the cluster tools may be aseries of single step process modules (e.g. each process module performsa single processing step) that are connected to each of the transfermodules which in turn are connected to a front end unit. In alternateembodiments, a front end unit may not be used between transport chamber(e.g. at vacuum) and load port. In alternate embodiments each of theprocessing modules may perform multiple processing steps. Exemplaryconfigurations of the cluster tools having between one and four singlestep processing modules are shown in FIGS. 19A-D. In alternateembodiments, the cluster tools may have more than four processingmodules. As noted above existing EFEMs have operational paths (two ofwhich are indicated by reference numerals CL1 and CL2 in FIGS. 20-23)that are separated by a distance D of, for example, about 505 mm for 300mm diameter wafers. As noted above, in alternate embodiments thedistance D may be any suitable distance. It is noted that the exemplaryembodiments described herein may be scalable in size and configurationto mate with EFEMs and processing modules configured for any suitablysized substrate. For example, the dimensions of the transfer robot,transfer chamber, load lock or any other suitable components of thetransport units or modules described herein may be increased ordecreased in size according to the size of the substrate beingprocessed. Due to the three link unequal length arm transfer robot andtransfer modules disclosed herein the transfer modules 101, 200 (FIGS.1A, 2A) may have a width that is less than the spacing D betweenoperational paths of the EFEM allowing the transfer modules 101, 200 andthe processing modules 1940 to be aligned with the center line CL1, CL2of the operational paths of the EFEMS. As can be seen in FIG. 19A, EFEM1910 is configured with one transfer module 1925 which may includetransfer chamber 1935 and load lock 1920 and any associated slit oratmospheric valves. EFEM 1910 may include a transfer robot 1915configured to have access to the two load ports 1900 and load lock 1920.FIG. 19B shows EFEM 1910′ configured with two transfer modules 1925.EFEM 1910′ may include a transfer robot 1915′ configured to have accessto the two load ports 1900 and to the two load locks 1920. FIG. 19Cshows EFEM 1910″ configured with three transfer modules 1925. EFEM 1910″may include a transfer robot 1915″ configured to have access to threetwo load ports 1900 and to the three load locks 1920. FIG. 19D showsEFEM 1910′″ configured with four transfer modules 1925. EFEM 1910′″ mayinclude a transfer robot 1915′″ configured to have access to the fourload ports 1900 and to the four load locks 1920. It is noted that thetransfer modules 1925 may be configured with load locks as can be seenin, for example, FIGS. 20 and 21 or with buffers as can be seen in, forexample, FIGS. 22 and 23. It is noted that the processing modules 1940coupled to the transfer modules 1925 in FIGS. 19A-19D may have a widthless than the SEMI specified 750 mm width. In other exemplaryembodiments the multiple processing modules that are coupled to each ofthe transfer modules such as those shown in FIGS. 19B-19D may be part ofa single processing module having multiple processing chambers. Forexample, the two processing modules 1940 in FIG. 19B may be a singledouble processing module (e.g. two processing modules in a single unit),the three processing modules 1940 in FIG. 19C may be a single tripleprocessing module (e.g. three processing modules in a single unit) andso on.

Referring now to FIGS. 21 and 24A, an exemplary operation of thetransfer system will be described with respect to operational path CL2.Initially load lock 900LL is vented and a delivery port at the interface160 is opened (FIG. 24A, Block 2400). Front end transport 2120 isactuated to deliver a substrate S from either of the load ports 1900 tothe load lock 900LL for processing (FIG. 24A, Block 2405). The deliveryport valve is sealed and load lock chamber 900LL is pumped to vacuum(FIG. 24A, Block 2410). When the process operational vacuum is obtained,slit valve 1000 is opened (FIG. 24A, Block 2415). The transport robot2130 located in transfer chamber 900TC (which is maintained at vacuum)removes the substrate from the load lock 900LL via the transporttrajectory shown in, for example, FIG. 16B and transports the substratewithin the transfer chamber 900TC (FIG. 24A, Block 2420). The slit valve1000 between the transport chamber and load lock is closed (FIG. 24A,Block 2425). It is noted that the robot 2130 in this example may haveone end effector but the operation of a robot with dual end effectorswill be described below. The process slit valve 940V is opened (FIG.24A, Block 2430). At this point process chamber 1940 is empty andtransport 2130 is at its so called start position. Transport 2130translates through its delivery trajectory shown in, for example, FIG.17B to full extension (or any other suitable extension distance) whereit will drop off substrate S for processing (FIG. 24A, Block 2435).Transport 2130 retracts to its start position and the process valve 940Vis closed and sealed. Whereupon substrate S is subjected to the processcycle in chamber 1940 (FIG. 24A, Block 2440). After processing thesubstrate S is returned to the load lock 900LL, in a mannersubstantially opposite to that described above, where the robot 2120picks the processed substrate and places it within a transport cassettecoupled to one of the load ports 1900 (FIG. 24A, Block 2455). The systemat this point has completed a cycle and a new cycle is initiated toprocess the new substrate. As may be realized the load lock 900LL mayinclude a buffer so that as a processed substrate is place in the loadlock a new substrate can be transported from the load lock into thetransfer chamber for processing.

In another embodiment as shown in FIG. 20 and referring also to FIG.24B, where the robot 2130′ has two end effectors, the end effectors maybe differentially driven for alternating use to pickup or drop offsubstrates as they are processed. The second end effector will be movedthrough similar trajectories as indicated in, for examples, FIGS. 16Band 17B. The additional end effector allows a substrate to be storedwithout the need for buffer shelves thereby increasing the throughput ofthe system by allowing the fast swapping of substrates as describedabove.

In operation, each of the end effectors will initially hold a substratefor processing (FIG. 24B, Block 2460). One of the end effectors willplace its substrate in the processing chamber for processing (FIG. 24B,Block 2465). After the processing cycle is completed, the processedsubstrate is picked up by the empty end effector and retracted from theprocessing chamber (FIG. 24B, Block 2470). The end effector holding theprocessed substrate is moved into the storage position while thedifferentially coupled end effector holding the unprocessed substrate ismoved forward to place the unprocessed substrate in the processingchamber (FIG. 24B, Block 2475) (e.g. fast swapping of the substrates).During processing, as before, the load lock is vented and opened toallow a new substrate to be loaded by the front end robot. The newsubstrate can be swapped from the load lock 100 with the processedsubstrate by the differentially driven end effectors of the transport2130′.

In this manner a simplified, highly flexible transport system isconstructed to service an individual process chamber. The integraltransport mechanism provides a mechanism to deliver substrates to theprocess chamber and to recycle for the next process cycle during theperiod of processing. This provides the ability to mount completeprocess modules to existing front end systems to allow the side by sidearrangement of the process modules, thereby avoiding the cumbersomesystems which have emerged due to the increase in substrate diameter.

As may be realized the principal cycling event in the substrateprocessing is the operation of the vacuum pump 140 to pump the load lock900LL to vacuum. Pump 140 also operates to maintain the vacuum in theprocess module 1940 and the transfer chamber 900TC. Pressure sensors maysense the pressure in the load lock 900LL and provide, for example,controller 310 with an indication of the load lock pressure. The timeneeded to pump the load lock to vacuum is dependent on the volume of thechamber 900LL. To minimize the volume of the load lock chamber, allspace within the chamber, that is not needed for transport of thesubstrate or to buffer the substrate is filled by shaping the sides, topand bottom of the chamber walls to minimize the volume of gas held bythe load lock 900LL.

Referring now to FIG. 24C, it is noted that, for example, the controller310 may include suitable control algorithms for operating the valves andtransfer robot as described above with respect to FIGS. 24A, 24B. Anexemplary process control system 2480, which can be used to accomplishthe various functions described above is shown in FIG. 24C. Each of theprocess modules will be provided with appropriate sensing elements tofeedback information to the controller 310 to monitor the progress ofthe process and time sequence of operational steps.

Referring now to FIGS. 25A-F another exemplary embodiment of thesubstrate transfer system will be described. The processing system maybe substantially similar to the processing system of the embodimentdescribed before. In this exemplary embodiment the transfer chamber 2520may be coupled directly to a load port module 2510 (without beingcoupled to the load port module through an EFEM). In alternateembodiments the transfer chamber may have any suitable configuration. Inthis example, the processing system is shown as being configured as astand alone (EFEM-less) vacuum system with a single process module. Inalternate embodiments, the processing systems may be clustered in anassembly generally similar to that shown in FIGS. 20-21, with thetransport chambers connected directly to load port modules without anintervening EFEM. The transfer chamber 2520 may be configured totransfer substrates from the load port module 2510 directly to theprocessing module with a “one touch” or single pass transfer of thesubstrate (e.g. the substrate is handled only once by one transferapparatus during transfer between the load port and processing module).For example, the transfer robot may pick the substrate from the loadport module and transfer it directly to the processing module withoutputting down the substrate or transferring the substrate to anothertransport. The EFEM-less vacuum system shown in FIGS. 25A-F may permitapplications including, but not limited to, vacuum metrology, researchand development of substrates and one-off substrate production as wellas system demonstrations. The operation of the system without an EFEMmay provide a low cost vacuum system.

In one embodiment, the vacuum system includes a load port module 2510with a substrate cassette elevator/indexer, load lock/transport chamber2520 and a single processing module 2530. The transfer chamber 2520 mayinclude a transfer robot 2540 that is substantially similar to thecompact two axes dual end effector robot as described above with respectto FIGS. 13 and 14A-C. In this example, because the load port module2510 includes an elevator/indexer, the transfer robot 2540 may not havea Z-axis drive. A suitable interface may be provided between load portto carrier interface flange and the transport chamber to allow thesubstrate cassette to be unloaded from the carrier and indexed relativeto the transfer robot. The load lock/transfer chamber may besubstantially similar to transport chamber portion 200TC (configuredwith the valves 700) of transfer module 200.

In other exemplary embodiments, where the load port module 2510 is notequipped with an elevator/indexer the transfer robot 2540 may beequipped with a Z-axis drive. As may be realized, where the robot 2540includes a Z-axis drive the transfer chamber 2520 may be substantiallysimilar to transfer chamber 100 which may have a larger internal volumeV1 than the transfer chamber portion 200TC which has an internal volumeof V2 as can be seen best in FIGS. 8 and 9. The larger volume oftransfer chamber 100 may accommodate the Z movement of the transferrobot 2540. However, as may be realized where the transfer robot 2540incorporates a Z drive the rotor portion of the motor, as describedabove with respect to FIG. 13B, may be exposed to the vacuum atmospherewhich may increase the pump down cycle time. In alternate embodiments,there may be suitable seals for isolating the rotor portion of the Zdrive from the vacuum environment. The operation of the processingsystem shown in FIGS. 25A-F may be substantially similar to thatdescribed above with respect to FIG. 24B where the substrate istransported from a substrate holder of the load port 2510 andtransferred directly to the processing module 2530.

FIGS. 25C-F illustrate side and isometric views of the transport systemin FIGS. 25A-B with different configurations of load port modules 2510′,2510″. In the exemplary embodiment, the load port module 2510′ is shownas a bottom opening load port module for example, and may include asubstrate elevator/indexer while load port module 2510″ may not have anelevator/indexer. In one embodiment, for example, where the transport2540 may not be equipped with a Z-axis drive, load port module 2510′ mayinclude the elevator/indexer while load port module 2510″ does not. Theload port module 2510′ may be configured to operate with a top or bottomopening substrate cassette. An example of a substrate cassette that maybe utilized with the load port 2510′ can be found in commonly assignedU.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/556,584; 11/594,365; and11/787,981, entitled “REDUCED CAPACITY CARRIER TRANSPORT, LOAD PORT,BUFFER SYSTEM” and respectively filed on Nov. 3, 2006, Nov. 7, 2006 andApr. 18, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety. In another exemplary embodiment, where thetransport 2540 is equipped with a Z-axis drive, the load port module2510″ may be configured to operate with a side opening substrate carrierthrough for example, a slit valve or the atmospheric valve 960 (SeeFIGS. 9A-D). There may be any suitable seal, such as for example abellows seal, between the load port module 2510 and the transferchamber/load lock 2520 to allow for the vertical movement of the robot2520 and/or substrate cassette while preventing leakage of the internalatmosphere of the transfer chamber/load lock 2520.

The configuration and compact size of the exemplary transport chambers200TC and 100 allow the load port module, transfer chamber 2520 andprocessing module 2530 to be arranged along the same center line CL. Thereduced volume of the load lock/transfer chambers also decrease the timeit takes to vent and/or pump the load lock/transfer chamber to vacuumsuch that throughput is increased.

Referring now to FIG. 26, another processing configuration in which theexemplary embodiments may be utilized is shown. In one embodiment, thetransfer chamber 2600TC may be substantially similar to, for example,transfer chamber 100 or 900TC and may be utilized as a modular transferchamber in a linearly distributed processing tool 2600 such as describedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/442,511, entitled “LINEARLYDISTRIBUTED SEMICONDUCTOR WORKPIECE PROCESSING TOOL”, filed on May 26,2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. The transfer chamber 2600TC may include transfer robot 1400′which may be substantially similar to transfer robot 1400 describedabove with respect to FIGS. 14A-C. Although the transfer robot 1400′ isshown as having one end effector it may be realized that the transferrobot may have any suitable number of end effectors that may or may notbe differentially driven. The transport chamber 2600TC may be connectedor coupled in any suitable manner to other transfer chambers such astransfer chamber 2601TC, or any other substrate processing apparatus2630-2632. The other substrate processing apparatus 2630-2632 mayinclude, but are not limited to, processing modules, load ports,aligners, load locks, coolers, heaters, buffers and other transferrobots. Substrates S may be transferred from transfer robot to transferrobot, or between any suitable processing apparatus 2630-2632 by thetransfer robots 1400′. Each of the transfer chambers 2600TC, 2601TC mayhave openings 2610-2613 along each of its four sides for communicatingwith the other substrate processing apparatus. It is noted that whilethe transfer chambers 2600TC, 2601TC are shown as having four sides, inalternate embodiments the transfer chambers may have any suitable numberof sides that may or may not be open to other substrate processingapparatus. In one embodiment one or more of the openings 2610-2613 mayinclude a valve for isolating the transfer chamber 2600TC, 2601TC from aprocessing apparatus connected to the transfer chamber.

The compact size of the transfer chambers 2600TC, 2601TC and themaximized containment to reach ratio of the transfer robots 1400′ mayreduce the footprint of the linearly distributed processing tool. Theminimized volume of the transfer chamber may also decrease the cycletime of any pump down cycle of the transfer chambers. As may be realizedthe load locks, such as load locks 110 and 900LL may also be utilized inthe linearly distributed processing tool in a manner substantiallysimilar to that described above with respect to the transfer chambers2600TC, 2601TC.

Referring now to FIGS. 27A-27C another exemplary substrate transfersystem is shown. In this example, the transfer system includes anatmospheric transfer module 2710, load port modules 1900 and aprocessing module 1940. While two load port modules 1900 and oneprocessing module 1940 are shown in the Figures, it should be realizedthat any suitable number of load port modules and processing modules maybe coupled with the transfer module 2710. In this example, the transfermodule 2710 may be configured as an atmospheric module substantiallysimilar to an equipment front end module (similar to EFEM 150 in FIG.1). The transfer module 2710 includes a transfer robot 2700 that may besubstantially similar to robot 1400 described above where the robot isconfigured to operate in, for example, an atmospheric environment. Thetransfer robot 2710 may be mounted on a track 2720 so that the robot2700 may be translated in the direction of arrow 2730 to allow forpicking/placing substrates in the various modules coupled to thetransfer module 2710. For exemplary purposes only, a suitable example ofa track mounted transfer apparatus can be found in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/159,726, entitled “Dual Arm Substrate TransportApparatus” and filed on May 29, 2002.

As may be realized, the motion profile of the transfer robot 2700 may besubstantially similar to that described above with respect to FIG. 16B.For example, the substrate S located on the end effector 2750 follows asubstantially arcuate or U-shaped path substantially similar to path1670 while inside the transfer module 2710 and a substantially straightor linear path substantially similar to path 1680 while outside of thetransfer module 2710 (i.e. within a load lock/buffer, processing module,or load port). In one example the substantially straight or linear pathmay be along a station centerline SCL1, SCL2 which may also be anoperational path of the transfer module 2710.

In this example, the transfer module 2710 is shown coupled directly tothe load port modules 1900 and the processing module 1940 fortransferring substrates between the load ports 1900 and processingmodule 1940 with “one touch” as described above. In other exemplaryembodiments, the transfer module may be coupled to load ports and loadlocks as shown in, for example, FIGS. 1B and 2B. In alternateembodiments, the transfer module 2710 may be directly coupled to acombination of load locks, load ports and processing module

It should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described hereincan be used individually or in any combination thereof. It should alsobe understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative of theembodiments. Various alternatives and modifications can be devised bythose skilled in the art without departing from the embodiments.Accordingly, the present embodiments are intended to embrace all suchalternatives, modifications and variances that fall within the scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A substrate processing system comprising: a loadport module configured to hold at least one substrate container forstoring and transporting substrates; at least one substrate processingchamber; at least one isolatable transfer chamber capable of holding anisolated atmosphere therein configured to couple the substrateprocessing chamber and the load port module, where the at least onesubstrate processing chamber and the at least one transfer chamber arearranged to form independent and substantially continuously paralleltransport paths that have isolated atmospheres from each other whereeach of the substantially continuously parallel transport paths is acontinuous substantially straight line path at least through arespective transfer chamber and into a respective processing chamber;and a substrate transport mounted at least partially within each of theat least one transfer chamber and having a drive section fixed to arespective transfer chamber and having a SCARA arm configured to supportat least one substrate, the SCARA arm being configured tobi-directionally extend in a substantially continuous linear motionalong a respective continuous substantially straight line path totransport the at least one substrate from the at least one substratecontainer and to the processing chamber with but one touch of the atleast one substrate, wherein the SCARA arm comprises a first arm link, asecond arm link, and at least one end effector serially pivotallycoupled to each other, where the first and second arm links have unequallengths.
 2. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the atleast one load port module is but one load port module, and the at leastone substrate processing chamber is but one substrate processingchamber.
 3. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein whentransporting the substrate from the substrate container and to thesubstrate processing chamber with but one touch, the substrate is movedalong a first path between the substrate container and substratetransfer chamber, and a second path between the transfer chamber and thesubstrate processing chamber, and the first and second paths aresubstantially aligned.
 4. The substrate processing system of claim 1,wherein the SCARA arm defines a clearance envelope through which theSCARA arm moves to transfer substrates, and the transfer chamber isarranged so that it forms a transfer area substantially equal to theclearance envelope.
 5. The substrate processing system of claim 1,wherein the at least one processing module, the at least one transportchamber and load port module are arranged substantially along a commoncenterline.
 6. A substrate processing system comprising: an equipmentfront end module having at least one transport path for transferringsubstrates from the equipment front end module; at least one substratetransfer module coupled directly to the equipment front end module, theat least one substrate transfer module having a transfer chamber and asubstrate transport; and at least one substrate processing modulecoupled to each of the at least one substrate transfer module; whereinthe substrate processing system defines a cluster tool and the equipmentfront end module, the at least one substrate transfer module and the atleast one substrate processing module are arranged to form independentand substantially continuously parallel transport paths of the unit ortool that have isolated atmospheres from each other, where each of theindependent and substantially continuously parallel transport paths is acontinuous substantially straight line path at least through arespective substrate transfer module and into a respective substrateprocessing module and the substrate transport is configured tobi-directionally extend in a substantially continuous linear motionalong a respective continuous substantially straight line path totransport at least one substrate from outside a respective transferchamber to the respective substrate processing module with but one touchof the at least one substrate.
 7. The substrate processing system ofclaim 6, wherein the at least one substrate transfer module comprises: afirst chamber configured to interface with the equipment front endmodule and hold at least one substrate; the transfer chamber beingconfigured to interface with the at least one substrate processingmodule; and the substrate transport is located at least partly in thetransfer chamber and is configured to transfer substrates from the firstchamber to the at least one substrate processing module.
 8. Thesubstrate processing system of claim 7, wherein the first chamber andtransfer chamber are isolatable from each other and a respective one ofthe equipment front end module and the at least one substrate processingmodule.
 9. The substrate processing system of claim 7, wherein the firstchamber is configured as a substrate buffer and a removable valve insertis configured to isolate the first chamber and transfer chamber forconverting the buffer into a load lock.
 10. The substrate processingmodule of claim 7, wherein the first chamber and transfer chamber formone unitary isolatable chamber.
 11. The substrate processing system ofclaim 6, wherein the substrate transfer module includes at least one ofa substrate buffer, a substrate cooler and a substrate aligner.
 12. Asubstrate transport system comprising: a front end unit configured totransfer substrates from a substrate container; at least one transfermodule joined to the front end unit, the at least one transfer modulehaving a transport portion; at least one substrate processing chambercoupled to a respective one of the at least one transfer module, wherethe at least one transfer module and the at least one processing chamberform substantially continuously parallel inline transport paths, whereeach the substantially continuously parallel inline transport paths is acontinuous substantially straight line path from the front end unit fortransferring substrates from the front end unit to a respectiveprocessing chamber; and a substrate transport mounted at least partiallywithin each of the transfer modules and configured to transportsubstrates to the respective processing chamber from outside arespective transport portion with but one touch of the substrates in asubstantially continuous linear motion along a respective continuoussubstantially straight line path, the substrate transport comprising adrive section substantially fixed to the transfer module, two unequallength arm links and at least one end effector pivotally joined to eachother; a first one of the arm links being pivotally joined to a housingof the transfer module at a first end about a stationary shoulder axis,the first arm link having a first length; a first end of a second one ofthe arm links being pivotally joined to a second end of the first armlink, the second arm link having a second length where a rotation of thesecond arm link is slaved to a rotation of the first arm link; and theat least one end effector being pivotally joined to a second end of thesecond arm link and being configured to hold at least one substrate, theat least one end effector being rotatably driven separately from thefirst and second links.
 13. The transport system of claim 12, whereinthe front end unit comprises a plurality of operational pathssubstantially parallel with each other, wherein a transfer module iscoupled to each of the plurality of operational paths.
 14. The transportsystem of claim 12, wherein the at least one transfer module comprises abuffer portion for buffering at least one substrate and the transportportion is configured for housing at least a portion of the transport.15. The transport system of claim 14, wherein the at least one transfermodule further comprises a removable valve insert configured to convertthe buffer portion into a load lock having an atmosphere isolatable fromthe transport portion.
 16. The transport system of claim 14, wherein thebuffer portion and transport portion form a single unitary chamberselectably isolatable from the processing chamber and front end unit.17. The transport system of claim 12, wherein the at least one transfermodule includes at least one of a substrate buffer, a substrate coolerand a substrate aligner.
 18. A substrate processing apparatuscomprising: a front end module configured to hold at least one substratecontainer for storing and transporting substrates; at least onesubstrate processing chamber; at least one isolatable transfer chambercapable of holding an isolated atmosphere therein configured to couple arespective one of the at least one substrate processing chamber and thefront end module; and a substrate transport mounted at least partiallywithin each of the at least one transfer chambers having a drive sectionsubstantially fixed to a respective transfer chamber and having anunequal length SCARA arm configured to support at least one substrate,the SCARA arm being configured to transport the at least one substratefrom the front end module and to the processing chamber with but onetouch of the at least one substrate; wherein the front end module, atleast one substrate processing chamber and at least one isolatabletransfer chamber are arranged for transporting substrates between thefront end module and each of the at least one substrate processingchamber along independent and substantially continuously paralleltransport paths that are atmospherically isolatable from each other,where each of the independent and substantially continuously paralleltransport paths is a continuous substantially straight line path atleast through a respective transfer chamber and into a respectivesubstrate processing chamber and the SCARA arm is configured tobi-directionally extend in a substantially continuous linear motionalong a respective continuous substantially straight line path totransport the at least one substrate.
 19. The substrate processingapparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one unequal length SCARAcomprises, a first arm link rotatably coupled to a first rotational axisof the drive section at a first end about a shoulder joint, a second armlink rotatably coupled at a first end to a second end of the first armlink about an elbow joint and being slaved to the first arm link, alength of the second arm being different than a length of the first armlink, at least two substrate holders each configured to hold at leastone substrate, the at least two substrate holders being rotatablycoupled to a second end of the second arm link at a wrist joint, andwhere the at least two substrate holders are differentially coupled tobut a second rotational axis of the drive section for substantiallyequal and opposite rotation of the at least two end effectors relativeto each other, the transport being configured for bi-directionalextension of the at least two end effectors relative to the shoulderjoint.
 20. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 18, wherein theunequal length SCARA arm is configured to transport substrates along asubstantially curved path within the frame and along a substantiallystraight path along a centerline of the substrate transport outside theframe.
 21. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 18, wherein thedrive section further comprises at least one linear axes of motion. 22.The substrate processing apparatus of claim 18, wherein the substratetransport arm and drive section are configured to operate in anatmospheric or vacuum environment.